Suspect in cabbie murder has criminal past

LA MESA  A La Mesa man who has been jailed on a murder charge in the fatal shooting Sunday of a cabdriver in Lemon Grove was on probation for auto theft, court records show.

A fugitive task force led by U.S. marshals arrested Demetrius Sissac, 19, near his home on Jessie Avenue near El Cajon Boulevard Wednesday night, sheriff’s homicide Lt. Larry Nesbit said.

Sissac is being held in jail without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon in El Cajon Superior Court, according to jail records.

He is suspected in the slaying of Jalaludin Hamrah, 39, who worked for Main Cab Co.

On May 8, Sissac was arrested after leading La Mesa police on a brief pursuit in a stolen Volkswagen, La Mesa police Lt. Dan Willis said. Court records show he pleaded guilty May 18 to auto theft and evading arrest. He was sentenced on June 21 to three years’ probation.

Nesbit said investigators believe Sissac was in Hamrah’s cab and shot the driver in the upper body about 3:50 p.m. Sunday. After being shot, Hamrah lost control of his taxi, crashed and overturned near Main Street and Broadway in Lemon Grove.

Hamrah, an Afghanistan immigrant, worked mainly in the Lakeside and El Cajon areas. He was divorced in June 2010 and his ex-wife and young daughter moved out of state, court records show.

Nesbit declined to discuss the type of evidence that led detectives to Sissac or whether there were other people in the cab with him and the driver, saying the investigation was ongoing.

After task force officers and sheriff’s deputies arrested Sissac, homicide investigators went to his apartment. Sissac’s uncle, Sidney Sissac, said Thursday that detectives took items from the apartment, but wouldn’t talk to the family about his nephew’s arrest.

The uncle described Sissac as a good young man who enjoys carpentry, working on cars and playing basketball – “teenage stuff,” he said.

He said Sissac, who lives with his mother, was born in San Diego and has an older brother.

Another local cabdriver, Mir Najibullah Sadat Sahou, 68, was fatally shot on Sept. 28 on La Jolla Scenic Drive North near Sugarman Drive in La Jolla about 11:35 p.m.

San Diego police are seeking Ismael Raul Lopez, 28, as a suspect in Sahou’s murder.